Fridge Grow/Clone Box (part deux)

fishdeth

Well-Known Member
Used that old cover I had made with the flaps and cut into individual caps.
I just want to try and keep as much heat out of the soup as I can.
And I can still lift each pot out individually to check soup flow, bubbles, roots etc.
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fishdeth

Well-Known Member
Getting ready for the A/C tomorrow.
Picked up a 4" PVC "Y" pipe and a big rubber coupling flange .
The flange was a bit too big to fit over the one end of the pipe so I wrapped it with duct tape till it was the right size.
I will insert the hooks of the correct size bungee cord under the big hose clamp then thghten, and bungee the rubber flange onto the square output opening on the unit.
After I carefully remove the adjustable louvers, the flange will somewhat conform to the shape of the opening.
I am not concerned with a perfect fit here, it's OK if some leaks out into the shed too !
I can now push cold air into both openings in the fridge.
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fishdeth

Well-Known Member
Sorry, I just noticed how dirty the res was.
I NEVER let anything get nasty in there..... I'm on it!
 

fishdeth

Well-Known Member
Ahhhhh... said my plants...
Got the A/C fed into the cabinet.
Carefully, I removed the adjustable louvers but there was one vertical piece that stays.
I cut a square of cardboard to fit the machine opening.
Notched the rubber flange to fit over that and fit against the cardboard.
I found just the right bungee cord and wrapped it around the pipe and machine, but it kept slipping upwards.
@ small pieces of the 1/2" hard tubing I made the feed rail out of, fit right in the screw recess holes in the case.... PERFECT !
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fishdeth

Well-Known Member
Now, back to that "Y" pipe.
It is not a true Y.
One tube runs strait and the other branches off the side.
Air follows the path of least resistance, so the strait one was blowin like hell and NOTHING out the side tube.
I added a piece of foil tape to the inside of that side tube to scoop some of the air.... perfect, both blow about even now!
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fishdeth

Well-Known Member
OK... now on to the cooling test.

This machine has 3 modes:
FAN
COOL
DRY
On the DRY mode it barely runs the compressor enough to condense the moisture out of the air that passes thru it. (runs out a 1/2" hose thru the floor)
This setting feels really cool tho, I'm like almost scared to put it on the COOL mode.
I was hoping that DRY would be good enough to cool my small space because it should save a lot of power.

Well, with the lights off, it was pushing it down to 58*.
Hmmmm, well that's a bit too cool, and it was still dropping.

That lets me know that it cannot run when the light is off.

OK, 7:00 PM, sunup in the fridge, I let the light warm up a bit, the exhaust fan was on LOW.
Turned on the A/C on DRY and left it for a little bit and it was 65* in there.

Still a bit too cool for a constant.
I removed the cool tube and left it for about an hour.....it is right now holding at 72*... perfect.
AND... the plants get better light without the extra glass tube !!!

I tested the machine and when unplugged (or switched off by my timer), it comes back on to the DRY mode, which has a preset fan speed... perfect.

This means I can plug it into my hydrofarm timer, or the machine has its own timer, freeing up the HF timer for another purpose like perhaps timing the exhaust fan.... perfect.
 

fishdeth

Well-Known Member
Well, I got up and checked the temps.
Fridge: 68*
Res area: 58*
Soup 65*Still not optimal.

I will let the light on to cycle the sunrise back to a normal 7 AM.
With all this running in the day, we should be just about right.
 

fishdeth

Well-Known Member
OK, here is what is left of IT.
3 of the 4 tops STOPPED producing growth tips so they would NOT be advancing further... so bye-bye.
Cut all but the 1 top completely off.
THEN I topped that top for 2 colas.
It is vegging out nicely!
I was thinking of topping it one more time to make 4... we'll see...
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fishdeth

Well-Known Member
Ya, I just gotta make a little shady spot up top for it.
The res area is always 10 degrees colder than the grow chamber.
 
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